


build it back up brick by brick

by wrennette



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Order 66, VodeAn Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-05-31 10:31:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15117527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: The rise of Empire turns out to be the very best time to start - or find - a family.





	build it back up brick by brick

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rachaelizame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachaelizame/gifts).



> Title stolen from “Life to Fix” by The Record Company
> 
> I couldn't decide between Rachaelizame's prompts, so decided to be an overachiever and do two. They didn't have a letter with specs for this pairing, but hopefully will enjoy it regardless, I love this grouping. 
> 
> Headcanon of Cody’s name being an incorrect transcription from kote, the Mando’a word for glory is wholeheartedly adopted from @captaingondolin with their permission.

If Obi-Wan had had his way, he’d have avoided the Mandalorian sector altogether. Stars, if he’d had his way, he and baby Luke would already be safely hidden away on Tatooine. But transports were erratic at best since the fall of the Republic, and his paranoia refused to let him rest long of take a direct route. So he’d jumped transport to transport, carrying Luke with him as he fled the lengthening shadow of the Empire. 

The vessel where they were currently billeted would end its run in Sundari, and there, he would have to find another ship to carry them onward. He wasn’t looking forward to being on Mandalore once more, especially as internecine warfare had sprung up since Death Watch’s last failed coup headed by Maul. 

Despite his unwillingness though, Obi-Wan disembarked as ordered. Resisting would only draw unwanted attention. There was a part of him that would welcome the blasterfire that would surely accompany his face being recognized. But there was another depending on him now. A bright, innocent light he adored beyond reason, and who he would do anything to protect. So Obi-Wan kept his hood up and his head down, little Luke Skywalker tucked close against his chest. 

“Come with me General,” a soft, all too familiar voice directed a few blocks away from the spaceport. Obi-Wan swallowed thickly. He’d felt no danger approaching - but then, he hadn’t been shot as soon as he was recognized either. Silently, Obi-Wan glanced over. He knew those dark eyes, just barely visible beneath a durasteel helm and when he reached in the Force - he knew them quite well. 

“Rex?” Obi-Wan gasped, knees nearly liquefying under him. 

“I’m safe, I had my chip removed weeks ago, Ahsoka’s here and safe too,” Rex assured rapidly, catching Obi-Wan by the elbows and only then realizing there was a very small being cradled to the Jedi’s chest. 

_The chips_. Of course. Of _course_ the bloody chips, Obi-Wan realized with sudden clarity. 

“All the other brothers here have either had their chips out or been sedated until the surgeon can get to them,” Rex promised, but Obi-Wan wasn’t really processing. Rex and Ahsoka. Alive. “Come on, let’s get you tucked away,” Rex said when he saw that Obi-Wan had gone still and quiet, silent tears leaking down his cheeks. 

Carefully, Rex guided Obi-Wan to a small Nite Owls hideout to which he had access codes. The sentinel at the door nodded in greeting, and let Rex lead Obi-Wan within. Finding a quiet corner, Rex settled Obi-Wan in a chair. 

“I have to finish my patrol, will you be okay here for a little while? You’re safe, these are Bo-Katan’s people,” Rex said gently, rubbing his thumbs over Obi-Wan’s cheeks. 

“I - I’ll be okay,” Obi-Wan said, and Rex didn’t believe him, but he also didn’t want to draw attention to the clearly distraught Jedi. 

“You will be,” Rex affirmed, and as soon as he was back out on patrol, he called the safehouse where Ahsoka was on duty, watching over the Duchess and young Korkie. 

“What’s up Rexster?” Ashoka chirped with forced cheeriness. Rex knew she was getting stir crazy watching over the Kryze family in hiding. Hopefully this would help divert her attention a bit.

“You babuir just showed up in Sundari looking like a wormy Geonosian,” Rex said quietly, confident she’d picked up enough Mando’a to understand the relationship he’d assigned Obi-Wan. “He’s got an ad’ika with him, probably the General’s. I told him you were here, he stopped processing after that so he doesn’t know about Cody.”

“I - Oh - babuir?” Ahsoka managed to choke out. From what little she’d been able to explain the past few days, she’d been able to feel the deaths of the Jedi, despite that they were systems away. She hadn’t felt the General’s death, she’d know with certainty if he were gone. But everyone else? Master Plo and Obi-Wan and her other beloved mentors? It had been impossible to say, and with everything in chaos, the holonet wasn’t exactly reliable.

“I’ll bring him to the safehouse after my shift,” Rex promised. It would be crowded, but he was certain it would be for the best. Obi-Wan might be the consummate Jedi, but the Order was his family, Rex knew. His vode. To lose them - it had to be soul shattering.

When Rex returned to the hidden base, Obi-Wan was curled into a ball in the corner, asleep over his young charge. Rex debated leaving him to rest, certain the Jedi hadn’t slept properly in days. Finally, resigned to waking a wary Jedi, Rex reached out. Obi-Wan jerked back even as Rex’s fingers brushed his cheek, eyes wide and distant as he clutched Luke against his chest and reached for a weapon he no longer carried at his belt, the lightsaber hidden away in the bottom of his pack as too distinctive.

“Udesii,” Rex urged gently, “just me Obi-Wan, just me, you’re safe.” Obi-Wan let out a gasping breath, and collapsed into Rex, shuddering with suppressed sobs. Jostled awake in his arms, Luke began to grizzle and cry.

“Shhh, shh,” Obi-Wan choked out, trying to sooth the child. But with his own emotions so volatile, his panic over Luke’s crying only made the baby wail louder.

“Come on,” Rex urged, “let’s get you two to the safe house.” Obi-Wan nodded, and tried his best to calm himself - to calm Luke. Although it took a few blocks, Luke did quiet a little, his cries softening to disgruntled fussing. Bo-Katan, hair cropped close to her skull, met them, and nodded her silent acceptance before letting Rex lead Obi-Wan inside. The small main room of their safehouse was warm and dark, and as they entered, Cody sat up from where he’d been curled with Satine, scrubbing sleepily at his eyes. 

“C-Cody?” Obi-Wan asked, and this time his legs actually did give way beneath him. Rex steadied Obi-Wan, then all but carried him to the pallet on the floor. 

“Sir,” Cody gasped, and took Obi-Wan’s weight against his chest, cuddling him and the child close. “I’m so sorry Sir. I - I tried - I tried so hard to refuse the order.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan promised gently, and leaned up to kiss Cody’s scarred temple. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me Cody.”

“Kote,” Cody corrected slightly, and Obi-Wan broke into a broad smile. 

“I’ll do my best,” Obi-Wan promised, understanding immediately how important a name was to a man who shared even his face with millions. He reached up, touching the smooth patch of scalp where Kote’s hair had been shorn away for his chip to be removed. “I’m so glad to find you safe.” Kote nodded, the lump in his throat not allowing him to voice his reciprocal joy at seeing Obi-Wan alive. Instead, he nuzzled close, resting his forehead and nose against Obi-Wan’s. Obi-Wan’s breath caught - he understood the intimacy of the gesture - but he did not pull away. He pushed closer, nudging their noses gently together. 

“No monopolizing him,” Satine groused where she lay against Kote’s back. Obi-Wan let out a soft snort, and then a moan as Kote shifted to kiss him on the mouth, a deep, claiming kiss. “My turn,” Satine insisted when Kote retreated slightly to let Obi-Wan catch his breath. Obi-Wan blinked at her dazedly, and then he was being kissed again, softer this time, but Satine was just as insistent as Kote in her own way, and Kote was still cradling him gently. “You’ll stay,” Satine declared firmly when they parted. “I didn’t ask when we were young, and regretted it. I didn’t ask during the war, and regretted it. I’m asking now.”

“I’ll stay,” Obi-Wan affirmed. “My only duty now, is to those I love.” He felt Kote’s hands tighten slightly on his waist, and then a hand was fisting gently in his hair, tilting his head back. Rex’s mouth was just as insistent as Satine’s or Kote’s, and just as beautifully unique. Obi-Wan kissed back dazedly, awed by the love surrounding him. 

“Am I the only one who _doesn’t_ want to bone Kenobi?” Bo-Katan asked with mildly disdainful amusement.

“Nope,” Ahsoka said, popping the p, and Obi-Wan laughed against Rex’s mouth, a bit fuzzy headed with euphoria still. 

“Yeah, not into that,” Korkie agreed, snickering softly.

“You’re taking this surprisingly well,” Kote murmured, and Obi-Wan dropped his head, looking away as his eyes teared up. Luke almost immediately began to fuss again, wanting Obi-Wan to feel warm and happy again. “Shh, shhh,” Kote murmured, pulling Obi-Wan into another kiss, softer this time. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“They’re gone,” Obi-Wan choked out bitterly. “All my family Kote, I - what am I supposed to do? I - Jedi aren’t - we’re a community as well as a people, and I - I miss them so much,” he admitted, throat tight with tears. “They’re gone, I can’t feel them Kote. I can’t feel my siblings.”

“I’m here Master,” Ahsoka said firmly, shouldering into the pile of Obi-Wan and Kote and Satine. “I’m here and so is the little light, and we’ll find others, I know that there must be others out there, not all hope is lost, not yet.” She wasn’t entirely sure she believed her own words, but she couldn’t bear seeing Obi-Wan so dejected. Obi-Wan nodded, weeping quietly against Ahsoka’s strong shoulder. Satine gently eased Luke from his arms, letting Obi-Wan and Ahsoka waver their way towards equilibrium in the Force.

“So what’s the plan?” Obi-Wan asked a while later, when he’d managed to calm himself. Kote had pulled him back into the cuddle pile with Rex and Satine, and he was loathe to move much, savouring the warmth of their bodies pressed against his, the reassurance of having trusted friends at his back. 

“I will retake the throne,” Bo-Katan said, as if it was simple as that. Obi-Wan looked at Satine. The phrasing-

“As things are, I’m well aware Pacifism is an unrealistic ideal,” Satine admitted quietly. “And much as I loathe to admit it, many of the recent problems have been brewing almost since I ascended the throne. Somehow I’ve become just as much an extremist as Death Watch, just on the other end of the spectrum so far as violence is concerned. It’s better that I remain out of the public eye and allow Bo the chance to right things. Perhaps Jaster had the right idea after all.” Obi-Wan blinked. He’d never imagined he might see the day when Satine admitted defeat, or accepted that her goals were perhaps unreasonable.

“We’ve started quietly advertising that GAR deserters are welcome here,” Ahsoka said. “Chip removal is mandatory, but there are already a few squads spread through the city, and more in Keldabe and the other cities.”

“I am, as ever, at your service, my Lady,” Obi-Wan said to Satine, and she smiled. 

“I am in need of a General. And - and a consort, if the position would suit,” Satine said. Obi-Wan nodded, swallowing thickly. 

The others gave Obi-Wan a few days to settle in at the safehouse before asking much more of him. He did his best to salve his psychic wounds in that time, and also to learn the lay of the land, the numbers of the enemy and their on-the-ground strength. He also reminded Satine and the others that Knights and Masters seconded to the GAR were actually the smallest population of Jedi, and that if communications could be secured to the Jedi agricultural outposts, the AgriCorps and other Service Corps were still Jedi, and would likely be in danger from the Empire soon, if they hadn’t already been attacked. Ahsoka had grinned to beat the sun at that, and set about figuring out how to contact every Jedi outpost and installation of which they could think.

By the time Satine and Bo-Katan were ready to make their move on Death Watch, half of Obi-Wan’s 212th had straggled into Mandalorian space, along with a large portion of the remainder of the Third System Army, which had been his command. They came in ones and twos, by the squad, by the platoon; once a whole company of over a hundred men arrived on a beat up Republic cruiser they’d clearly secured by mutiny, the walls still scored with blasterfire. With permission of Satine and Bo-Katan, Obi-Wan directed all the deserters to Kalevala; a planetary neighbor to Mandalore, it was their planet of birth, and a Clan Kryze stronghold. 

The sisters took Sundari with ruthless efficiency. Satine wore beskar’gam as easily as breathing, the first time Obi-Wan had seen her in armour, although clearly not the first time she had worn it. She also ensured that Obi-Wan had armour to match, with prominent Nite Owl sigils to match her own and those worn by the rest of their faction. The ‘troopers had all happily added the symbol to their own armour, although they also still proudly bore marks of the Republic and Order as well.

The fighting was messy and chaotic, but in the end, House Kryze and their allies retook Sundari and with it Mandalore as a whole. They decimated Death Watch and their criminal allies in the process, and Obi-Wan took out a bit of his pent up aggression on Maul, although the Sith escaped in the end. Nominally, Bo-Katan took up rule, as Satine’s survival was still more rumour than widely known fact, and the idea of her re-taking the throne with a Jedi spouse at her side was too potentially inflammatory. 

Of course, since Bo-Katan’s first act as Regent was to denounce the Empire, it wasn’t as if they were trying terribly hard to avoid conflict. In that same announcement though, she made clear that Mandalore would welcome refugees from both Separatist and Republic worlds, so long as they obeyed the rule of law and exerted some effort towards complying with Mando cultural norms. 

There was almost immediately an influx of defecting clone troopers seeking sanctuary and purpose. Kote and Rex, who had both already sworn themselves to House Kryze, proudly wore the beskar’gam they’d looted from their enemies and refurbished to their own personal tastes - Rex’s was mostly blue, both for the 501st and the traditional Mando promise of reliability. Kote’s - Kote’s was shaded a sandy gold that was only distantly reminiscent of the bright colours of the 212th, invoking vengeance. Obi-Wan stuck with the traditional colours of House Kryze, the blue of reliability and green of duty, although he also added significant areas of black for justice.

Despite Bo-Katan’s declaration, the Empire’s eye remained elsewhere at first. They all knew it was only a matter of time though, and so they set about doing all they could to figuring out where and how the Empire would strike, and ensuring they had the alliances and firepower in place to resist. The arrival of more Jedi, most members of the Service Corps, but a few Knights, Masters, and orphaned Padawans helped too. Bo-Katan immediately offered AgriCorps the mission of rehabilitating the blasted deserts of Mandalore, which had been ruined by millennia of fighting. 

The other Corps were simply given the freedom to set up shop as they wished, and Obi-Wan found himself nominal Master of the Jedi Order in Exile. It wasn’t a position he’d ever imagined he might fill, but he’d always enjoyed teaching, and the Padawans and even some of the younger Knights clung desperately to him as a symbol of the stability they had lost. Obi-Wan didn’t have it in him to scold them about their attachment, not when he clung just as eagerly to them and the tradition they represented.

One of Obi-Wan’s first acts - with her permission - was reinstating and Knighting Ahsoka, who had more than earned that rank. Another was to take a Padawan from among those orphaned - a Twi’lek boy named Jinx, who Ahsoka had met some years before during the war. The other Knights and Masters understood the silent suggestion, and soon all of the orphaned Padawans were secured in new partnerships. 

If the exiled Jedi found it strange that Obi-Wan cohabited with Satine, Rex, and Kote, none of them said anything. They kept their silence too when they happened upon Obi-Wan holding hands or being affectionate with any of the three. No few of the Knights and Masters had partners of their own, Obi-Wan learned before long, and no few of those partners - at least among the Knights - were also officers of the GAR who, like Kote, had managed to fight the execution order at least a little bit. 

With the Empire’s focus on quashing Separatist worlds, Mandalore remained safe, for the moment. It wasn’t long before Obi-Wan had secure communications from Alderaan and Chandrila and a handful of other worlds he had anticipated would resist the Empire. Most though, didn’t have Mandalore’s warrior spirit; they would bow to the Emperor, and build their strength in secret, awaiting an opportune time to strike against Palpatine. 

Bo-Katan ruled fairly, repealing many of her sister’s more restrictive laws governing the production and sale of arms and armour. She made clear though, that internecine conflict would not be tolerated - they had an enemy at their gates, and the Mando’ade needed to be united when the Empire focused its attention on them. With a common enemy, even the most warlike of the clans were willing to band together in common defense. They may not have agreed with Satine, but she had been theirs nonetheless, and her perceived death at the hands of an outsider was an insult they would not forget.

There was some grumbling, and more than a little jockeying for power. But with the defectors of the GAR forming up at the backs of the otherwise underpowered Clan Kryze, no one was willing to openly work against Bo-Katan. And for the more secretive plots - well. Ahsoka was a fearsome protector, even without taking Bo-Katan’s own formidable skills into account. 

All told, it took nearly a full year before the might of the Empire turned toward Mandalore. In that time, Kote had become General of Mandalore’s newly raised army, mostly made up of the former GAR troopers who had rallied to House Kryze. Obi-Wan was more than happy to relinquish the position, as were the other Jedi who had made their way to Mandalore. There were numerous natural-born Mando’ade willing to join up as well, eager after so many years of peace to prove they were warriors like their ancestors. 

Compared to the number of troops the Empire could field, the Mandalorian army was miniscule. Equally obvious though, was that the Empire cared little for those who fought and died for its glory. Before and after every battle, from minor skirmishes to planetary scale conflicts, the Mando received waves of refugees, mutineers, and deserters. Some of them were the Emperor’s spies, but the majority were just what they appeared to be, people wanting to live in a free society.

Obi-Wan and Satine quietly exchanged vows during those quieter times, and settled in at the Ducal compound in Sundari with Rex, Kote, and Luke. Obi-Wan split his time between his newly found family, the Jedi, and the growing army, training soldiers and his Padawan alike. The Jedi, he made clear to Bo-Katan from the start, would help maintain independence from the Empire, but they would not act as a military force. Their latest foray into military matters only seemed to prove what the Ruusan Reformation should have made abundantly clear: the Jedi were meant to be scholars and negotiators, not warriors and Generals. 

The vode somewhat apologetically agreed. While the Jedi had done their best, and many had been more than adequate, others had been a death sentence to serve under, and not just Fallen Jedi like Krell. Some had simply been lethally incompetent at leading their troops. 

Despite the difficulty of the situation, the yawning void in the Force where Anakin and the Jedi had once been, Obi-Wan found himself content. He focused on what he could control, training his new Padawan, raising Luke, spending time with his lovers. Kote took the lead on military matters, and Obi-Wan as happy to step back from the role of General, although he was still called on for advice from time to timee. But Kote had often run the Third Systems Army in Obi-Wan’s absence, and the ‘troopers trusted his orders. Rex focused on the commando units, and Satine advised her sister. 

It wasn’t quite the same as the feeling of the Jedi warm and bright in the Force, but it was a feeling of family nonetheless. Between the four of them, Luke had plenty of guardians to keep him occupied, and Obi-Wan loved the boy like his own son. Luke returned the affection wholeheartedly, and while Obi-Wan knew their current tenuous situation would not last forever, he would accept and enjoy every day of relative peace he was granted.

When the Empire did come, they arrived at the Mandalorian system with staggering force. They did not, however, arrive without warning. The intelligence networks of the fledgling rebellion had worked overtime alongside Obi-Wan and the other Jedi’s contacts and the remnants of GAR intelligence. They knew what to expect and when, and rather than trying to meet the strength of the Imperial fleet head on, every Mando’ade willing and able to pilot a small fighter in such a sortie began blitz runs through the ships. They prioritized gun emplacements and fighter bay doors, and once the Imperials launched their own fighters, dogfights. 

More than one Imperial fighter got free of their bays, then immediately sliced their transponder to display outdated GAR codes and began fighting alongside the Mando’ade. Once the capital ships were limping, their guns stuttering or silent, the larger Mando ships engaged, kom’rk troopships carrying up a mixture of beskar’gam armoured commandos and GAR defectors. They hulled the cruisers, and set about the bloody business of shooting anyone who wouldn’t surrender.

They were only able to take two capital ships before the remainder lumbered away, venting oxygen as they staggered into the safety of hyperspace. Still, it as a victory. Obi-Wan knew Kote had feared he was sending their entire strength - many of them his siblings - to die. The losses were heavy, there was no pretending otherwise. But it was a victory, and not so costly that Mandalore was ruined. 

The pilots who had deserted during the skirmish were uniformly clones, and they were vetted carefully, their chips removed as standard practice. Intelligence interviewed them repeatedly and at length, and while they discovered that almost to a man the cloned troops wanted out of the Empire, there was no other conspiracy at work. More than one also claimed to have left a close brother or batchmate behind, someone who had decided they were of more use as a mole than an active defector or mutineer. Time would only tell how valuable those contacts might be. 

The first few years of Empire were rife with conflict throughout the former Republic, but Mandalore in particular took a beating due to Bo-Katan’s refusal to bow to the Imperial throne. The first Darksider showed up before too long, and while Ahsoka defended Bo-Katan ably, they all knew this was but an early attempt to depose her. There would be more, and they would get harder to stop. 

Despite that grim fact, Obi-Wan allowed himself to be content, to find small moments of happiness as he curled between his spouse and lovers each night, or taught his Padawan new skills, or watched Luke begin to toddle unsteadily about on his chubby little legs. He knew Kote, Rex, and Satine felt similarly, that they had decided to find their on moments of joy in defiance of the end of their old way of life. Perhaps it was naive. But Obi-Wan thought he’d rather be happy and naive than despondent. The galaxy was dark and grim. Any happiness they found seemed a victory.


End file.
